US Airways is realigning its U.S. network to focus almost exclusively on service to and from its Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix hubs and three other cities, which by the end of 2010 will represent 99 percent of the airline's capacity, up from about 93 percent today. The carrier also said it would abandon a number of markets, lay off about 1,000 workers and suspend indefinitely its right to serve Beijing.
US Airways will reduce Las Vegas service from 64 to 36 daily departures in the next four months, while closing operations in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Wichita, Kan.
The carrier pointed to "weakness in transatlantic revenue" in its plan to cease service from Philadelphia to London Gatwick, Birmingham, U.K., Milan, Stockholm and Shannon, Ireland. US Airways, however, said it would extend currently seasonal service to Brussels and Zurich to year-round.
US Airways said it would return to the U.S. Department of Transportation its authority to serve Beijing from Philadelphia, but that it could reapply.
Though major U.S. airlines aggressively have been cutting capacity for more than a year, they initially attempted to preserve as much of their networks as possible by trimming frequencies, not markets
(BTNonline, June 9, 2008).With those cuts maxed out, they've increasingly looked elsewhere to match supply to demand. "I think initially it was, 'Let's just pull down some frequencies and try to stay in as many markets as possible,' " Advito vice president of business solutions Bob Brindley said. "What's been happening more recently with US Airways is more of a restructuring of the route network—similar with American and their pull-down in St. Louis."
American Airlines in September announced that it would reallocate to its hubs capacity from underperforming markets, including the discontinuation of 20 destinations from St. Louis and nine departures from Raleigh/Durham, N.C.
"I think you are going to see carriers figure out which markets they can have leverage in and have premium lift and premium share, but start to pull down in markets that are not as strategic for them," Brindley said. "If that alignment continues, you're going to have fewer and fewer highly competitive markets."
American said it will bulk up service next year at its hubs in Chicago, Dallas, Miami and New York. Airline executives said they were targeting 2010 mainline capacity to essentially remain flat from 2009 levels.
The biggest surge for American will take place at Chicago O'Hare with the addition of 50 daily flights, including service to 12 new cities. Those include mainline service to Honolulu and Vancouver and American Eagle service to Calgary, Allentown, Pa., Charleston, W.Va., Dayton, Ohio, and Lexington, Ky.
In addition to its three hubs, US Airways said that it would preserve or bolster its presence at Boston Logan and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports and on the shuttle markets it serves from New York's LaGuardia Airport.
Citing its still-pending slot swap with Delta Air Lines (BTNonline, Aug. 12) http://www.btnonline.com/businesstravelnews/search/article_display.jsp?
(BTNonline, Aug. 12), US Airways said it would add eight new markets from Washington National: Birmingham, Ala., Islip, N.Y., Ithaca, N.Y., Little Rock, Ark., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Pensacola, Fla., Savannah, Ga., and Tallahassee, Fla.
Chairman and CEO Doug Parker in a memo said, "By concentrating on our strengths we will be better positioned to return US Airways to profitability."